Reading some of these threads is like a Scarlett letter for those who will be dead soon.
It's time to face the facts that in the "good old days" you never learned how to sell in the first place. You could get by just throwing traffic and free shit and people would convert.
Now, there is so much
supply of the vanilla porn that you can't get people to pay because you gave that shit away for free for years. So people who can get off to that shit are in heaven. Especially when it wasn't 30 seconds free. Oh no, you had to give away 3o MINUTES for free.
At some point your brain, if you had one, told you that free and traffic was king. Not conversions and SALES.
The fact of the matter is that, online, any retard can join this business. So you have people with NO BUSINESS SKILLS in it. You have people who think they will make a mint on AFF ads, so giving away the farm doesn't mean shit to them.
You have those affiliates who need fresh new content, and they are all scrambling to get it from the sponsors who do NOT rerun the same old tired content and programs.
Then you have the content dudes who have seen their budgets and work cut because of the loss in sales, and consolidation. Programs not buying new content, just whole other programs and their licenses.
This doesn't get into the cross sales, and other shady bullshit. But there is a bigger picture here as well....
When you people talk about "the industry" you have to, or should, go to a show and the reality will start to sink in.
There are about 12-24 'major bro players' if that. My guess is that their revenues probably make up a good chunk of this business, and as a collective (number of people in this business) they are maybe the top 1-3%. I am talking about online, not major porn studios.
Now,.. you have let's say 12 (for simplicity sake_, major bros. Their making millions, sponsoring shows, buying up other programs, and cross selling, upselling, and branding like a mofo. They make up 5% of the business and 50% of the sales (again, ball parks).
The other 95% of the business is everyone from affiliate marketers, content people, small and mid market companies, solo girl self run sites, mom n pops, small to medium networks, applications, and so on.
That top 5% doesn't give a shit about what troubles most of the 95% that doesn't make them money.
Case in point. People at conferences talking about what big 'bro' is getting sued. Who fucking cares? Why? Because they have the resources and money to defend themselves in court.
I would be more worried about the small piss ant mom n pop who gets sued and does NOT have the resources. They could be railroaded in the Florida panhandle and the same law that comes out of that case, hits us ALL in this business.
Is there any unity for the piss ants? Nope. Just the bros.
Most of the people who are
FULL TIME in this industry and never going to get beyond the mid level market in this business. Don't be fooled. It's the fact of the matter. (unless you get a merge, get capital investment, etc) If you are REALLY in the $XXX,XXX range and can maintain. You are doing better than 90% of GFY.
Mainstream online is the same way. You have the top people worrying about what the top issues are to THEM. They do not care about the plight of the piss ant.
